Dry and wet abrasive blasting systems consume vast amounts of compressed air. They have been used typically for cleaning operations, for preparing surfaces for painting, for removing rust, corrosion and coatings including paint and other coatings. In situations requiring blasting operations, that do not tolerate dry sandblasting conditions.
Wet abrasive blasting systems have been used typically in situations requiring blasting operations, that do not tolerate dry sandblasting conditions due to environmental or other factors.
A typical wet abrasive blasting system is described and depicted in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/080,880 filed by Keith Eliason on Apr. 6, 2011 under the title Wet Abrasive Blasting System and Method. The diagrams in that application depict typical wet abrasive blasting systems that have been in use for many decades.
The current wet abrasive blasting systems use a single air compressor to operate a single wet abrasive blasting system which in turn operates a single blasting wand and nozzle operated by a single operator.
Typically one of the most expensive capital items required to manufacture a dry or wet abrasive blasting system is the air compressor needed to produce the large amounts of volume of air consumed by a typical abrasive blasting system.
In order to improve the efficiency and to lower the cost of operation of abrasive blasting systems it is desirable to be able to operate two wet abrasive blasters using one air compressor thereby being able to reduce the capital cost and as well improve production efficiency.
The difficulty to date with using a single air compressor with two dry or wet blasters is the interference of the airflow from one wet blaster to the second wet blaster when for example the operator turns their exit nozzle on and off thereby creating pressure spikes and fluctuations within the system which create instability in the entire operation of the wet blasters.
Therefore it is desirable to have a twin wet abrasive blasting system which is capable of dampening out pressure spikes and fluctuations between two or more wet blasters which are connected to one air compressor in such a manner that both can run smoothly and efficiently.